On November 27, 2018, a California judge turned back the SEC’s request for an injunction against token company BlockVest, a company the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is pursuing for allegedly conducting an unregistered securities offering. The judge, however, ruled that BlockVest’s token distribution, which was conducted via airdrop, was given freely and received without expectation for returns, so it didn’t constitute an investment contract.While the judge’s ruling is not a law-binding verdict, it was still a victory for BlockVest and the wider ICO industry, something that’s been a rarity for the SEC’s mounting list of token sale targets.Among other regulatory developments, 2018 has been one extended game of cat and mouse between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and any number of initial coin offerings (ICO) that have sprung up in the investing exuberance of 2017’s bull market. And the SEC has been catching its fair share of mice.Back in last year’s unprecedented boom, which saw the crypto market’s assets increase threefold, many ICOs attempted to evade the SEC’s scrutiny by self-labeling their products as utility tokens. If they could prove their tokens were built to serve a function rather than exist as an investment vehicle, then they could avoid a securities classification and continue their sale without registering with the SEC.The SEC, though, didn’t buy the distinction...
